I24 News targets US, UK, Spain

International and Israel-based news channel I24 News plans to broadcast in Spanish and also aims to launch this year in the US and in UK, according to CEO Franck Melloul.

Founded by Altice CEO Patrick Drahi – who also owns SFR, Numericable and Portugal Telecom – I24 News currently broadcasts in French, Arabic and English. A competitor to Al-Jazeera, it employs 250 people including 150 journalists, and works with a €50 million budget.

Transmitted by satellite it is theoretically available to one billion households. It is also available for free online.